


RWBY Scout Series: Bring It

by LightningDragon



Series: RWBY Scout Series [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningDragon/pseuds/LightningDragon
Summary: I wanted to take a more personal look at the motivations of the characters and the quiet moments in the hectic lives of Team RWBY. Today we find Yang Xiao Long keeping watch over an abandoned village. Enjoy!
Series: RWBY Scout Series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745395
Kudos: 4





	RWBY Scout Series: Bring It

It was now the last watch before breakfast. This was Yang’s favorite time to keep watch too. Sleep all night and get to wake up early to watch the sun rise? Yes please! However, this mentality was one from missions in the temperate climate of Vale, along with the recent missions in Mistral. The continent of Solitas that is a whole different story. The night is coldest before dawn, and outside the heating protections of the kingdom, Yang certainly felt it when she got outside. There would be no cooking outside this morning for sure with this freeze.

Yang quickly decided to go back downstairs to the top floor of the abandoned house. At least here it was slightly warmer. There were enough viewpoints on this top floor to keep watch as well. Not to mention Yang hadn’t had the chance to explore this part of the house yet. While half of the room had long since collapsed onto itself, the other half was a nice study area, or at least what was left of it. Yang took a look around this room, checking cabinets and cupboards for anything resembling an escape from the boredom of this chilly early morning watch. In a small table near a window, she found her answer.

It was a small book. The elements had worn down the table, like so much else in this room, but this book was kept safe inside the drawer, giving Yang at least something to read while she sat watch. She took another look out at the setting moon. As she suspected, not even grimm wanted to roam around in these temperatures. She took the book, found a somewhat sturdy chair, and took a seat. It was nice, wasn’t it? Sure, it still was chilly up here, half the room collapsed, and they were surrounded by who knows what. But when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right?

The book itself was actually pretty interesting. It seemed to be some type of financial record keeping book for the family that once lived here. Yang got to see the different dates and transaction amounts from years worth of purchasing and selling for this trader. From the looks of it, this guy traded in different types of dust mining equipment, among other related things. She probably would have to ask Weiss later what some of these tools were. It was interesting seeing how this family operated in the larger scheme of this place, but with that search came the inevitable end, both for the book and the story. Towards the end of this record book, she saw the trade of goods transition from the purpose of mining for another objective. These tools she recognized. Ammo, weapons, dust cartridges.

She looked back out at the ruined town. Towards the end, the concern obviously must have been more about the fight ahead over the usual dust mining. Just like so many other places in Remnant, this place eventually fell. Whether to grimm or outside forces was unclear, but did it really matter? The story the book told was clear as day. Eventually, the fight will come to you, and you better be ready.

She thought back to her own mother, her words about survival of the fittest. How apt they were for a place like this. Yang had come to peace with her mother a while ago now. After their confrontation at Haven, she got what she wanted Raven to hear off her chest. She chose her tribe over her family, simple as that. While Raven directly caused places in Mantle to look like this village, Yang got to grow up fast and be a mother figure for Ruby. While Raven ran away from the fight of their lives, Yang didn’t even know what the danger was. When she found out, she stood up and fought for her school, her team, and most importantly for what was right. She entered Beacon a thrillseeker, left a warrior. Raven entered Beacon a student, left a huntress, and decided instead to become a threat to society.

But for real, Yang had accepted her mother’s actions, though forgiveness she still was a bit far from reaching. Yang wasn’t blind to the enormous weight Raven carried on her shoulders for being the Spring Maiden, the burden Ozpin put upon her and Qrow with the magic Ozpin gifted them. She just didn’t accept the excuses Raven makes to this day. Yes, as far as they knew Salem couldn’t be killed. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be defeated. That didn’t mean honest warriors like Yang and the rest of the gang wouldn’t stop trying to thrawrt her. The threat was always looming of course. Why do you think the team was out here in this abandoned village in the first place? But while Raven once again hid from the world, Yang was out here, fighting the good fight.

But as much as Yang thought about it, talking to herself about the moral implications of the actions mother and daughter took, drawing the easy conclusion of which option was the superior one morally and practically, she still couldn’t get over how empty this feeling was.

Sure, she won the battle at Haven. Sure, she was still standing, scars and all. But choosing the right choice didn’t mean she got some kind of sense of fulfillment out of it. She didn’t instantly get to celebrate because she chose right. Instead, her actions of standing up for herself and her teammates usually ended up badly. After standing up for Beacon, she paid the price with her arm. After standing up for Haven, she paid the price by once again losing her mother. And by standing up here in Atlas, she already was helping prop up the horrible Schnee family. Being in the moral right never meant a life without sacrifice, pain, or hardship.

Yet here she was. Yang once again peered out into the darkness of this cold, lifeless, town. In the middle of nowhere so far from home. All for one reason. To help in the fight against Salem. Yang, like the rest of the group, had seen the images shown by Jinn. She knew the fight ahead of her, ahead of the whole world really. Without unity, their fight would mean nothing. They could defeat Salem, kill every grimm on the planet, and bring about the end of suffering on a scale never seen before. But without the cooperation of the world, it wouldn’t matter. Whether it happened by the hand of Salem, Ozpin, by accident, or even by the actions of another unknown actor, the gods would one day return to Remnant. They would judge how the world worked together. Humanity had already failed once, and so far the future wasn’t looking bright if the gods decided to show up tomorrow.

That was the job though, wasn’t it? To help the world. To protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, thus making the world a better place? The more she thought about it, the more Yang suspected that was the intent behind the creation of the Academies and all of this official Huntsmen and Huntresses stuff. After all, it was a previous iteration of Ozma that created the schools, knowing full well his mission. It then made sense that while the purpose of these noble warriors was indeed innocent enough, the true, unofficial, purpose also served the plan of making the world a better place in eventual preparation for the return of the gods.

Yang thought on this premise a bit more. Since the end of the Great War, the academies and the warriors they produced had done untold good for this world. After the world nearly tore itself apart fighting each other, the promise of a new world, led not by the tyranny of rulers and generals, but instead by the protection and honesty of a huntsman or huntress, it was appealing. Even if there was somewhat of an ulterior motive to the system, some endgame untold to nearly every huntsman and huntress in history, the public goal still was mostly achieved.

Yang thought back to Ozpin. To Oscar. To all the secrets and stories Jinn revealed when Ruby said her name that fateful day. It still angered her. The betrayal of Ozpin. All of the secrets he kept not only from the public at large, but from those closest to him. Even her uncle Qrow, who fought for Ozpin for so many years, was in the dark about some of this stuff. Ozpin would return, at least in some form. Oscar had talked about how he lost contact with Ozpin, but that wouldn’t last. Eventually, maybe after all this business in Atlas was over, he would return. When he did, he was going to have a long conversation with everyone. Ozpin owed the group that much. An explanation on his side of the story. Why he kept the secrets he kept.

Yang took another look around. It was quiet all around. Unusually so. She took another good look around the perimeter. Still no signs of life. Of course, the question of Ozpin and Oscar brought back similar questions for their current situation here. When they got to Atlas, they kept secret much of what they had learned from Jinn. Just like Ozpin did. For the same or similar reasons likely too. As angry as Yang was at Ozpin, she was helping the group put many here in Atlas and Mantle in a similar spot. They were keeping secrets for the good of the mission. For the good of the world. As much as Yang was angry at Ozpin, they were doing the same thing here, weren’t they? She knew the necessity of doing this, but feared it would bite them in the back.

Thinking about all of this brough Yang back again to her early days at Beacon. Back to even before Team RWBY became a thing. Before all of this started. She had been so excited that Ruby had been able to gain entrance to Beacon. Not only was she fulfilling her dream of becoming a huntress, but she would get to do it alongside her little sister! Of course, she also had some worries in those early days. Not of her sister’s young age, nor her ability in the field. Yang knew from the very start that Ruby would overcome those challenges. Ruby was an awesome fighter too. Her concerns were more motherly. This was a brand new environment for Ruby, without any of her friends from Signal. Yang knew people going into her first year at Beacon, while Ruby was all alone. She was concerned about who Ruby could make friends with, considering she was one of if not the youngest student at the academy. Of course, that became a mute point. Ruby ended up the leader of their team. She grew up, not only in her abilities as a leader and warrior, but in her abilities as a friend. Yang liked to think she was able to help Ruby break out of her shell, but it was really all Ruby.

Yang looked back at the financial book she read through earlier. Among all these transactions, these boring numbers, there existed a story. A tale of a shopkeeper who not only traded in equipment, but in kindness. Whether out of a financial interest, though hopefully from a more human standpoint considering the location and isolation of the village, it looked as though the trader cared for the customers he served. There were little notes throughout the book about miner’s personal needs. Reminders on certain equipment and tools customers requested when it came to their orders. A desire to care.

That was what truly drove Yang, wasn’t it? Whether from being Ruby’s mother figure after Raven left and Summer died, whether from those first formative days at Beacon, or even after Beacon fell and Yang learned the truth about the world, Yang always kept fighting the good fight. It came down to helping others. To doing the right thing, no matter what stood in her way. More than anyone else on Team RWBY, even Ruby herself, Yang was the most caring, the most empathetic. She understood everyone more than anyone else on the team. Sure, she could fight just as good as any of them. That was why she was chosen to be the sole representative in the final round of the Vytal Festival Tournament. But her best asset she brought to Team RWBY? The empathy. Yang had grown from being a mother figure to Ruby into being the emotional well for the team. When they had problems or issues, whether with each other or from outside the team, it was usually Yang who was the one who they talked to about these issues. Yang took pride in that. But it came at a cost. As the stakes are raised in this fight against Salem, as more hardship and loss is likely to follow, once again the team would turn to Yang. When things got hard, how much more could Yang take in emotional terms? She already lost an arm. She had lost so much more since. Could Yang rise to this new emotional challenge?

The truth? Yang was a fireball. Ain’t nothing stopping this huntress until the day is won. As the sun began to rise over this wasteland, she thought about the day ahead. The team would soon awake for another hard day here in the cold expanse of Solitas. Thanks to their training and determination, they would be ready. Yang would be too. It was time to fight. Bring it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the final short one-shot I have for this series. It has been a fun first step into the world of fanfiction! I appreciate all the support shown here, and while this series is done, I already have stuff cooking up soon that I think you guys will really enjoy. I'll be back soon to share with y'all!


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